It is strange how memory works. Important events like birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones after a point in time get blurry and collect dust in one corner of your brain. What once used to be clearly photographed starts to fade away with time. However, then come the most random feelings or occasions that are etched in your memory. These are often forgettable, ordinary things, but somehow stuck in your head like a song stuck in repeat.Â
Mine is a particular feeling that goes back to the summers of 2015-2017. What should have disappeared in the back of my mind keeps coming back to me, hitting me with a wave of nostalgia. It feels like a warm hug as I become reminiscent of those summers. A little 10-year-old me was living in much simpler times.Â
During those summers, particularly, Kolkata experienced extreme levels of heat. Every morning, I remember being woken up by my mother as I begged her for 5 more minutes of sleep. I cribbed and complained all the way to the bus station as I chewed on the 4 almonds I was given and was forced to eat every single one. I held my grandfather’s pinky finger and tried to keep up with his long strides. He made it a point to quiz me on my tables every morning. I always fumbled when he asked me what 9 times 4 was. When he was distracted, I would feed my almonds to the stray dogs. After reaching the bus station, we would wait as he put his white handkerchief over my head to protect me from the sun’s blaze.Â
In school, I waited for the bell to ring all day just so that I could go to the field and play tag with my friends during the 30 minutes of recess. As our white shoes got muddy, we would steal some chalk and colour over the muddy stains just so that we would not get yelled at by our mothers when we went back home. Most of our lunch break would go away playing in the field, which gave us just enough time to gobble down our food before the next class started. The relief from the cruel heat was iced water from the cooler at the end of the corridor.Â
After an exhausting day at school of doing just the bare minimum, as soon as I reached home, I took an icy bath, followed by my mother keeping a lemonade waiting for me. She fed me rice and dal as I yapped about my day. The meal was always followed by mangoes, which were my favourite. The hearty meal always made me sleepy. I would wake up around 5 pm and go down to play with my friends again, only coming back home to quench my thirst from all that running around.Â
The day ended with eating orange stick ice cream while playing Ludo with my parents after dinner, a family tradition that we follow to this date, 9 years later. I would trade anything to go back in time and relive that day just one more time, when everything seemed so much simpler, and my biggest worry was getting scolded by my mom for getting my brand-new white shoes all muddy.Â